Corporations, the Supreme Court assures us, are much more important to America than citizens. The only importance of citizens lies in their roles as consumers and voters who have been carefully taught.
You thought it was supposed to be otherwise? It was. The founders are spinning in their graves. But we live in an America that betrayed its founders long ago. Look at today's report from the Commerce Department.
The nation’s workers may be struggling, but American companies just had their best quarter ever.
American businesses earned profits at an annual rate of $1.66 trillion in the third quarter, according to a Commerce Department report released Tuesday. That is the highest figure recorded since the government began keeping track over 60 years ago, at least in nominal or non-inflation-adjusted terms.
Corporate profits have been going gangbusters for a while. Since their cyclical low in the fourth quarter of 2008, profits have grown for seven consecutive quarters, at some of the fastest rates in history.
This breakneck pace can be partly attributed to strong productivity growth — which means companies have been able to make more with less — as well as the fact that some of the profits of American companies come from abroad. ...NYT
Wait a minute. Who manufactures body scanners? American corporations? No wonder they're required at hundreds of airports!
But not all airports. Israel -- a country with a security problem or two -- doesn't use them.
The problem with the Transportation Security Administration is that it is both the regulator and the operator of airport security. In other words, it is required to regulate itself, which cannot work.
The decision to use body scanners is one result of this flawed approach. The fact is, such scanners do not provide more protection and they are invasive.
Israel has a completely different security system. The Israeli regulator (Israel Security Agency) analyzes the threats and vulnerabilities. It then provides guidance to the airports and border crossings on how best to utilize technologies. Therefore Israel is not scanning for liquids, and neither does it have to use body scanners or screen personnel and crew.
American airport security needs a similar strategy. A national security advisory board made of security experts (not only police, F.B.I. and military generals) should define the standards and systems based on an ongoing threat analysis, vulnerability studies and security planning. The majority of the passengers, cargo, workers and crew pose no threat at all, and banned items like water, perfume, toothpaste, nail files and other do not pose any problems if carried by regular passengers.
The current security system in which everyone is a suspect is bound to be ineffective and burdensome...Rafi Sela, president of AR Challenges is an international transportation security consultant based in Israel.
Exactly. But of course America's oligarchy depends on its ability to persuade people to buy things they don't need or want and to manipulate their votes. What we put into body scan equipment comes out the other end as campaign contributions. As one security technologist points out:
... Airplanes require a special level of security for several reasons: they’re a favored terrorist target; their failure characteristics mean more deaths than a comparable bomb on a bus or train; they tend to be national symbols; and they often fly to foreign countries where terrorists can operate with more impunity.
But all that can be handled with pre-9/11 security. Exactly two things have made airplane travel safer since 9/11: reinforcing the cockpit door, and convincing passengers they need to fight back. Everything else has been a waste of money. Add screening of checked bags and airport workers and we’re done. Take all the rest of the money and spend it on investigation and intelligence...
...Neither the full-body scanners or the enhanced pat-downs are making anyone safer. They’re more a result of politicians and government appointees capitulating to a public that demands that “something must be done,” even when nothing should be done; and a government bureaucracy that is more concerned about the security of their careers if they fail to secure against the last attack than what happens if they fail anticipate the next one. ...Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and author of several books on computer security, including "Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World."
You think all of that is wild exaggeration? Look what happens at the epicenter of corporate and political greed when limits on the use of body scans threatens their manufacturers, the defense industry.
Companies manufacturing the airport body scanners at the center of a national controversy are well-armed on K Street to battle legislative restrictions on their technologies. ...
Lobbyists for the body-scanner companies are also keeping an eye on a bill introduced last week by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) that could stop the new screening procedures.
Companies like L-3 Communications, the defense contractor, are providing several of the scanners under a nearly $165 million TSA contract won earlier this year, are well-prepared for the fights. ...The Hill
